Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Cairns raised the issue of domestic violence. I am absolutely aware of the great importance of the issue and I know that the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, has treated the matter very seriously during this Covid-19 period. He has done all he can to ensure that those at risk or those who become victims of that awful crime are given as much support as possible.

Deputy Cairns asked about engagement between representative bodies for victims of domestic violence and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. I understand that the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protectionhas met with a number of organisations that are active in this area. Those meetings were satisfactory and progress was made. The Minister is acutely aware of the issues referred to by Deputy Cairns.

Unfortunately, I am not able to answer the Deputy's question on rent supplement. I was not, nor should I have been, involved in the decision on that matter. I will, however, get an answer for the Deputy on the subject and I will respond to her.

I plan to bring a proposal to Cabinet tomorrow on the maternity leave issue. We moved with great speed in setting up the wage subsidy scheme. After that scheme was set up and operational I became aware of the question of mothers going back to work who had been on maternity leave. My objective is to find a way to bring them onto the wage subsidy scheme and to treat them absolutely fairly, as with others who are on the wage subsidy scheme currently. It has taken some time to identify a way of doing this because of the way the legislation was drafted.

With the support of the Cabinet, I aim to deal with that issue tomorrow. I thank the Deputy for raising that with me in recent debates.

On the issue regarding the firewall, as the Deputy referred to the work between the Department of Justice and Equality and Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, I am well familiar with the issue of the undocumented in my constituency. I see the contribution that many who are undocumented make to our economy and to our society. I also see, however, the great difficulty they face because of how they originally came into our country. Many of them have been in Ireland for so long.

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